Paper One:

1. The predominance of Vittirio De Sica’s film, The Bicycle Thief, focuses on male characters (esp. Antonio and Bruno Ricci). Considering the weight given to these characters, in what ways does De Sica choose to represent masculinity? Can this be applied to the larger Italian political context? Discuss these questions within the context of the selected clip.

2. Roberto Rossellini’s Germany Year Zero is told through a ‘child’s eyes.’ What is Rossellini’s intention here? How is the ‘child’s perspective’ incorporated into the ‘film’s grammar’? And in what ways might this serve the neorealist aesthetic? What are the possible sociopolitical implications of using a child’s perspective?

3. Towards the latter part of Federico Fellini’s La dolce vita 1 there is the so-called ‘orgy’ sequence. Is this a scene of corruption and moral degradation, or is it a sign of vitality? Is Fellini issuing some sort of sociopolitical commentary? If so, what is he critiquing? Or, is Fellini offering a celebration of life, a ‘flight of fancy,’ pure spectacle for the pleasure of it? If so, what might be said of such imaginative spectacles? How do you interpret this sequence?

4. Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Accattone, in theme, content, and to a certain degree style, pushes against the confines of the realist aesthetic. Discuss how the dream sequence in Accattone conforms to, challenges, or supplements the realist aesthetic. At the mid-point of the sequence (the end of the selected clip) Accattone asks, "What’s happened?" Address this question, what has happened, and what is the intention of this dream? Is this the ‘consciousness,’ or the ‘psychological state’ of the character? Does it perhaps go beyond Accattone, the character, and pertain more to the moral conscious of Italian culture (Accattone should feel ashamed), or is this more like a ‘return of the repressed’ (i.e., bringing the sub-proletariat to fore of Italian consciousness)?

5. The opening sequence of Federico Fellini’s 81/2 anticipates what is about to unfold. Discuss how specific elements in the scene are representative of the film’s theme(s). How do these elements relate to Fellini himself?

6. John Stubbs says in his article "Fellini’s Portrait of the Artist as Creative Problem Solver," that the harem sequence in 81/2 "renders the artist’s mind at work."2  How does the harem sequence demonstrate Fellini’s creative process? What possible insights are found in the harem sequence regarding Fellini’s depiction of himself, and his relationship with women?

7. Michelangelo Antonioni’s Red Desert is almost entirely set in an industrial landscape, or in the shadow of an industrial setting. When Giuliana tells a story of an adolescent girl, at the cusp of puberty, the setting changes radically. The colors and the light are brilliant and natural. What is the possible intention of this scene? What is the possible significance of the radical difference between this scene and the stark character of the rest of the film? What might the boat represent? And what is the significance of ‘recognizing for the first time that the rocks look like flesh,’ like human forms?
 
 
 
 


 1.  Please note that I have edited this sequence, in the interest of keeping this clip concise I have cut certain details out.
  2. John Stubbs, "Fellini’s Portrait of the Artist as Creative Problem Solver," Cinema Journal vol. 41, no. 4 (2002), 122.



Write a 4-5 page paper on one of the topics below. If you want to purpose a topic, please consult me first before you proceed.

Remember that papers are due May 17, 2004 in class.

1. We could argue that Sergio Leone does not rely on dialogue per se to advance his narrative trajectory, but rather it is his composition that carries the narrative. Discuss Leone’s use of specific shots (e.g., close-ups, long shots) in his The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. What affect does his ‘visual vocabulary’ have on the narrative?

2. Discuss how Pasolini’s Oedipus Rex is an expression of his cinematic theory, especially as found in his “The Cinema of Poetry.” This essay can be found in Movies and Methods Volume I edited by Bill Nichols, or in Pasolini’s own, Heretical Empiricism.

3. “The Epilogue,” in Pasolini’s Oedipus Rex, as he says, “is what Freud calls the ‘sublimation’. Once Oedipus has blinded himself he re-enters society by sublimating all his faults.”1  In what ways does Pasolini represent ‘sublimation’ or catharsis? In what ways does the character of Oedipus transform? What is Pasolini’s intention of moving from ancient Thebes to modern Italy?

4. Bertolucci seems to suggest that fascism has its origins in psychological trauma, especially early childhood ‘sexual trauma.’ The central character in his The Conformist, Marcello, is heavily burden with an early sexual encounter, and this seemingly accounts for his blind allegiance to the fascist regime. Discuss the final scene. What has Marcello discovered? Does he discover anything about himself? What is the significance of the setting? And what do these discoveries – coupled with the setting – say about fascism, if anything at all?

5. Bertolucci’s The Last Tango in Paris is deeply indebted to the artist Francis Bacon and his work. Discuss how some of the compositional and thematic elements in Bacon’s paintings can be found in Bertolucci’s film. What can be said about the relationship between the human form and its relationship to the space in Bertolucci’s film and Bacon’s paintings? What can be said about the themes found in these works? Do the themes in some way pertain to the use of space in these works?

6. Bertolucci’s The Conformist and Visconti’s The Damned both feature scenes of pedophilia. How are these scenes similar? In what ways are they different? What function does pedophilia serve in these narratives?

7. Cavani’s The Night Porter is an unlikely story of a concentration camp intern returning to her sadistic Nazi ‘lover.’ Is Cavani commenting on the possible pleasure that we can derive from the spectacle of horror, that even Nazi crimes are a potential source of entertainment? Is Cavani calling attention to the sadistic and voyeuristic pleasure we find in The Night Porter? Even if this is case, does Cavani do precisely what she seems to be critiquing?

8. Prior to Pasolini’s Salò: The 120 Days of Sodom, the Italian film industry produced a whole litany of films that addressed the topic of the Second World War, fascism, and/or the Holocaust (e.g., Germany Year Zero, Oedipus Rex, The Conformist, The Damned, The Night Porter). All of these films defer Italian complicity, and individual responsibility. The Second World War, fascism, and/or the Holocaust in these films is the ‘result’ of a perverted mind, sexual trauma, or a ‘German problem.’ Pasolini rejects such conclusions. In what ways does Pasolini present horror as ‘normal’? How does he make the spectator complicit in ‘horror’?

9. Is Benigni’s comic and light-hearted approach to the themes found in Life Is Beautiful ‘inappropriate’ given the gravity of the subject, or does it make the subject more palatable, approachable? In addition to a comic approach, which seems to ‘distance’ us from the ‘reality of the events,’ Benigni’s character – to protect his son from the ‘reality of the events’ – creates ‘the game.’ What might ‘the game’ allegorically represent in Life is Beautiful? Do these features of the film – comedy and ‘the game’ – which distance characters and us from the ‘reality of the events’ paradoxically allow us to get closer to the ‘real experience’? (For the spoken English version of the selected clip click here.)


 1. Pasolini in Oswald Stack, Pasolini on Pasolini: Interviews with Oswald Stack, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1969), 129.